Sometimes, blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to meet the level for a diabetes diagnoses. This is called prediabetes and it puts the person at a greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.1
If you have been told you are at risk for diabetes or have prediabetes, know that you can do something to help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. Making some lifestyle changes now can help you avoid or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes and other health complications such as heart disease, down the road. It’s never too late to start.
Once you’ve been told by your doctor that you have prediabetes, be sure to get tested for diabetes every year.1 And follow the recommended guidelines to help prevent type 2 diabetes. These include losing weight if needed, exercising, and eating healthy.
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes or high blood glucose that is first detected usually during the second or third trimester of pregnancy that isn’t pre‐existing type 1 or type 2 diabetes. If you’ve been told you have gestational diabetes, you are not alone. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimated in 2017 that 1 in 7 births worldwide was affected by gestational diabetes.2
Monitoring blood glucose levels and carefully following your doctor’s care plan will help keep you and your baby safe from complications related to gestational diabetes. The good news is that gestational diabetes tends to go away when the pregnancy ends. However, once you've had gestational diabetes, you have a higher chance of getting it again during a future pregnancy. You also have a higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
¹ American Diabetes Association. (ADA) Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes–2018. Diabetes Care 2018; 41, Suppl. 1. Online version accessed Sept 9, 2019
² International Diabetes federation. (IDF) IDF ‐ Gestational Diabetes. Accessed online Sept 9, 2019
IDF Diabetes Atlas (8th Ed.) (2017). International Diabetes Federation: Brussels, Belgium. Online version accessed Sept 9, 2019
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